Mike Oliver's Messages

 Six to one you would be thinking that Paul led Barnabas into mission work but that's not exactly how it was. In fact it's Barnabas who first mentored Saul, after eight years in the shadows from "ex-persecutor of Christians," to what we know as "Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles." Originally named Joses (meaning consolation) he was renamed by the Apostles to Barnabas (son of encouragement).   Barnabas is the sort of Christian we all should be; identifying the call of God on a person, his or her gifting, and helping get them working towards building the kingdom of heaven on earth. Unloving people put others down and raise themselves up but inhibit the spread of the Gospel.  Loving people raise others up for the good of the Gospel of Christ. When Barnabas realised Paul was beginning to lead the missionary effort into the rest of the world he placed himself in a followers role where he could still encourage Paul on the difficult road to successfully lead

Paul poses the notion of comparing spiritual things with spiritual. He's talking about the spirit of the world and the Spirit who is from God and leaves us to "compare apples with apples." Paul's world view is that all things are spiritual, i.e. is it the wisdom or foolishness of man or the wisdom or foolishness of God for the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of man (1Cor 1:25). The normal Christian life is sorting out the good apples from the rotten ones as we navigate our daily journey. Those who know the scriptures will be reminded of the words relating to the disposition of our heart (Is 41:10, John 14:27) and the disposition of the mind (Rm 12:2, 2Tim 1:7). It is clear God is not the originator of fear and so our being anxious or afraid has to have come from elsewhere. Paul makes it clear that we have available to us the mind of Jesus Christ (1Cor 2:16). The issue is then not so much where is God when I need his wisdom, rather it is about our be

A man said to me recently that he thought most people believed in God but just don't think he's doing anything for them. They do believe in God enough to pray but don't believe perhaps because of low self-esteem that he will bother himself to move on their behalf. Consequently this doubting is not met positively and therefore the cycle of low expectation persists. Jesus however taught us that our prayer should be embedded in trust and thanks for the response of a faithful God. He said profound things like ask and you shall receive (Mat 7:7) and I will do whatever you asked in my name! (Jn 14:14) Why then are some prayers answered immediately and others seem to go unanswered?   The Old Testament gives us a good understanding when elders came to Ezekiel (Ch 14) the prophet to seek the Lord when the Lord spoke to him saying, "These men had set up idols in their hearts and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity." He is saying that these me

At first Isaiah 15-16 seems like a mishmash of strange names and places but just like Facebook it has actually a colourful set of connections. Moab is the nation mentioned which developed from the first son of Lot after his city and his wife were destroyed by two angels; the wife escaped but turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back. (Gen 19) However the circumstances surrounding Moab's births are a bit shocking by our set of boundaries and yet the Book of Ruth is that of a Moabitess. Righteous Lot's two virgin daughters also escaped the angels destruction against corrupt Sodom and Gomorrah were concerned that they wouldn't find suitable husbands to father their children in such a rampant homosexual world as they has witnessed in their destroyed home town. The young women, we imagine, are thinking there is no unmarried non-homosexual males available saying, "there is no man on the earth to come to us as is the custom of all the earth." Wow, does that h

I met an convert who told me that when he was a Catholic he wanted to be the best, actually the Pope. Convinced by the priests he was a sinner however he became instead the best at the other end, in fact a hitman. He said he would wait until the end of the week to commit the crime so that after confession he was made right in time for Sunday Mass. How out of touch we can end up in a set of rules and distorted teachings. In fact the essence communion was the love feast of the early gathering of Jesus followers. It was not actually a wafer and sip, or bread dipped, but rather the believers eating together their main daily meal. We can see at the Passover feast (John 13: 24-28) a very different context as Jesus uses what we believe is communion to identify the disciple who was about to betray him. The disciple leans close to Jesus in confidence and asks which of the twelve is the betrayer. Jesus uses the bread dipped to signify who it will be and gave it to Judas. How things have ch

Recently I've had a song coming to me. The words of it are seemingly about a young girl who waits for her boyfriend to return but he doesn’t show. “Delta Dawn” was made famous by Helen Reddy but has been sung also by Bet Midler and others. Why this song I asked as it circled like a vulture while I worked and again as I woke to another day. It’s as if the Spirit is speaking to me and I’m too dense to understand so I did some research and was astounded to find others had similarly come up with something spiritual in the song. The story in the lyrics is about the woman who waits for her man’s return just as the Church awaits Jesus return still these thousands of years later. It reminds me of the way the Church says Jesus will return but somehow that day eludes us, year after year, century after century. It’s as if Jesus plays this cruel trick on us who have fallen in love with him. But it’s not a cruel trick of Jesus doing; rather it’s a trick of our theological misunderstandin

An angel assists a saint in a most extraordinary way in the book of Acts (12). Peter is imprisoned and heavily guarded by the command of Herod while the church has set a prayer vigil to God. A supernatural being comes and looses Peter from his chains and confinement in such a way that though Peter does as he is commanded he is not completely aware if its real or a vision. While the angel was with Peter he was not himself but as in a rapture or a dream. However when he comes too his senses he finds himself outside the prison and walking to the believers gathered in prayer. Though his chains fell off, he clothed himself, walked past two guard posts and locked gates opened, yet Peter was not aware it was any more than a dream. When Peter arrived at the gathered believers though praying they were astonished that he was freed. There are two aspects of this account which strike me as important. 1) Jesus never had an angel give this kind of help when he was imprisoned to do God's wil

Having attempted to bring change to our last parish, and found some people eventually unwilling to tough it out and keep moving with us, I find myself trying to find out how it could have been done better.  The issue of change resistance is not necessarily about poor goal setting, but rather about process management.  In the book "The Call to the Soul" by Marjory Zoet Bankson there is a delightful piece looking at the inside of those faced with change, "In truth, a new call terrifies me." she says. "When I get a sense of a new call, I harbour a wish to fit it in with what I am already doing.  But I cannot because my life is already over full, and I do not want the work of shifting my priorities to make space for the unknown.  I deny my failure to acknowledge a new call and keep this secret urge to myself, without naming it.  I do not know what to say.  I "forget" to speak about it with friends.  Thoughts tumble and refuse to stay ordered.  I behaved

When you read the scriptures read as a believing believer, alive to the probabilities of the Kingdom of God near at hand. Elijah the Tishbite from the region of Gilead is a great prophet of God and a man who never died; in fact  he shows up in the New Testament on the Mount of Transfiguration near Damascus with Moses, Jesus, Peter, James and John. His residence however moved to the area of Israel’s first Passover in the Promised Land at Gilgal, a short distance from the ruins of Jericho by the lower Jordan River. Elijah was the mentor of Elisha, called by the Lord above prophet school students at Jericho and Bethel. He was called while working a field, plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, (1Kings 19:19) twelve is repeated in a significant manor, “and he was beside the twelfth.” Elijah throws his covering (mantle) over the plowman who then burns his bridges by slaughtering the oxen, feeds his family and friends and follows the prophet. A mantle was the official garment of a prophet

Isaiah 27 speaks about a day when God slays Leviathan the sea monster and that day His property yields as it should, the new wine. The Lord speaks to us from a deeper level here about a problem that confronts this era of church and reform. This is a most hopeful and timeless passage with undertones for the whole Church today. Commentaries on this section of Isaiah haven’t really been able to identify this Leviathan except to say it is reptile or serpent like in nature. One might say it’s Satan and be done with it as I have in the past, yet I am shown an identity through Ezekiel 29:3 & 32:2 which names Pharaoh is a great monster who lives amongst waters and seas. It seems that Leviathan specifically has to do with Israel’s persecution in Egypt under Pharaoh and his armies holding 2-3million children of God. Egypt is a type or symbol of pre-salvation slavery, as is the red sea crossing a type or symbol of baptism and Mt. Sinai coming of the Holy Spirit. The Israelites at this stag

Mark 5-6 mentions three times a common number twelve, i.e. Woman healed by touching Jesus' garment bled twelve years, Jairus' daughter raised from dead was twelve years old, and the number of baskets left over after the feeding of the five thousand was twelve. One might ask why these incidental numbers are mentioned around the sending out and success of the twelve? When we look at the miracle that Jesus did for the girl who was twelve years old in raising her from the dead, we see no other reason for the writer pointing out her age except this spiritual signification, "And straightway the damsel arose and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years and they were astonished with a great astonishment." (Mk 5:42) Similarly the Church would be raised from the dead by Christ. As the 12 stars of the woman (in Rev Ch 12) also point to the congregation of the Lord. Things that might appear coincidental to a worldly reader but brought by Christ to His own, i.e. they are

The Lord is repeatedly directing me over the last few months to Isaiah 17 i.e. The Proclamation against Damascus and Israel. When I hear it I usually feel "not that one again" but last night the Bible opened at that exact chapter and that really makes me sit up and pay attention. We can see a war looming in Syria and this piece says "Damascus will cease from being a city," however with some research and found that the old city is depopulating as 20,000 or more people move into new accommodation and the old buildings lay waste. It says "In that day a man will look to his Maker and his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel." Now many are looking at the war but subtly the prophecy has been happening behind the scenes as the city being talked about in ancient times is changing to fit the word spoken. It says that "Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold..." The

Benjamin Disraeli once said “Success is the child of audacity.”  Today I am going to show that Jesus Christ succeeded by knowing the Way and not deviating from that Way.  I am also going to show that Jesus is audacious but his heart is pure – and we are supposed to be like him. (During this preaching I saw a vision of Jesus whipping the the unrighteous out of our hearts).  Audacity means: 1. Fearlessly, often recklessly daring; bold, adventurous, brave. 2. Unrestrained by convention or propriety; insolent. 3. Spirited and original. Jesus would have equally upset many of today’s leadership to the ‘inth degree. He was so audacious that they killed him for daring to rock the boat they were paddling themselves in. How dare he come into the temple and throw over tables and toss the money all over the floor. What kind of lunatic is this guy who brandishes a whip of cords to drive out traders. Heaven forbid this is not good order! How absolutely outrageous can a devout church-goer be? Ex

I have shared this before of how I saw below a cross many dead and naked people, so many I could not count. It looked like they had been, like Jesus, on the cross but had fallen and lay lifeless below it. They were not entombed but just laid upon one another uncorrupted. Jesus then came into the scene and took me to another rise in which was driven a stake and He faced me with His hands on my shoulders and gestured to the dead saying, “All this is yours.” Just like our parable Sid the Seed is the state of many Christians today in the kingdom of God as we should see from Jesus’ testimony Luke 7:28, “Among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.” And Luke 16:16b “Since that time [of John] the Kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it.” John the Baptist was an extraordinary prophet; there was none greater said Jesus yet those who enter into the Kingdom of God, even t

Jesus preached the word to them. A seemingly innocent little statement that non-the-less caught my eye. It’s not mentioned in the Matthew version but here it is in the less expansive gospel of Mark. It doesn’t say what was preached as if it were common knowledge and we should already know. Jesus preached the word to them seems as though it might be a sermon but somehow not significant to register in content. I asked myself what I would have said if so many came near that they couldn’t even get near the door – maybe I’d say, “The kingdom of God is close to you.” Jesus himself sent the 72 out to preach “the kingdom of God is at hand.” Perhaps that is what Jesus said but it’s hardly a preaching in itself. But then four men came to Jesus carrying a paralytic and had to lower him through the roof to get near. It must have been bedlam. So Jesus says something audacious, He says, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Talk about radical theology – so what’s going on here? The scribes are enra

In the summer of 1987 the lodge I contracted too had a fishing client from England to guide on the Rangitaiki River for a day. His name was Tony Pawson and was to later discover he had not only been a champion of the England cricket team but also was a world champion fly-fisherman. This happened within months of giving my life to the Lord in December 1986 and now it seemed a gate was opening. Tony was here technical advisor to the World Championships and researching his book. Because of those couple of days I would feature on several pages in his book “Fly-fishing Around the World.” As if this wasn’t enough he suggested that I was just the sort of person they wanted in the World Fly-fishing Champs to be held in England in our autumn and so gave me a contact. I phoned but was informed it was already organised but for some reason as the conversation ended I offered to pay my own way if things changed. Then out of the blue a month or so later I got the call. Sponsorship had fallen thro